Child series - Of philias and phobias

   Child series - Of philias and phobias

I used to hate Math as far back as I can remember.  I never really used to 'get it'. Algebra was a dark mystery and I was only slightly better at Geometry. Teachers used to solve some Math problems on the board which I could not follow and they would ask us to do similar kinds of problems ourselves. I never really understood what formulas to use, my tables were weak and I got all my calculations wrong.

My mother was a Math teacher at the same school. She was in the primary section and taught all subjects but Math was her strong point.  And being a Math teacher, she believed that only children who 'got' Math were intelligent. I would come home from Math exams and pretend to be asleep so that I didn't have to tell my mother how the paper was. But my mother would come back home, knowing fully well that I was avoiding her and would force me to get up and ask me to solve the paper. In those days, we would get the hard copy of the question paper home. So I would reluctantly solve the paper and show it to my mum. Of course it would be full of mistakes. My mother would get extremely upset. There were times when she hit me for having made silly mistakes. I dreaded these 'solve your maths paper' sessions. Maths was the only subject my mother would teach me. I would study the other subjects on my own and was reasonably good at them. English and Social Studies were my favourites. I liked Biology and Chemistry as well. Only Math (and later on Physics) was a disaster.

The housing colony where I stayed celebrated 'Ram Navami' for nine days. They invited a person who was learned in the Vedas and the Ramayana and she/he would tell the audience stories from the Ramayana, a section each evening, completing the last section on the 10th day which would be about Lord Ram coming back to Ayodhya after defeating Ravan. Now, my exams in April was right in the middle of Ram Navami. Once, I had the Math exam the next day; my mother had reached the end of her patience teaching me and it was a desperate situation. I told my mother that I would take a break, go to the story telling session next to the temple and listen to the story for about 30 minutes and would be back to revise with a fresh mind. The real reason I went was to negotiate with Lord Ram that I was there to listen to his story so he should make sure that I do well in the Math exam. After listening to that night's story, I came back to revise but fell asleep and the Math exam ended in disaster. I did not realise then that Lord Ram had so many important issues to solve in the world - discrimination, hunger, wars, injustice, violence, deprivation...improving Maths marks could surely not be a priority on HIS agenda!!!

A study done on Math Phobia titled "Math Phobia, Causes, Symptoms and Ways to overcome' has revealed that Mathematics phobia is real, it exists among students, which are characterised by negative perception of the students towards Mathematics. According to the study, the only ways to overcome Math phobia is the intensive efforts made by all the stakeholders including 'reinforcing the child's sense of intelligence and skill in Mathematics learning'. So there is some justification for how the teachers' and parents' reaction to students' struggles impact their performance in subjects. The American Psychological Association in their website, under the section ‘Pre-K-12 Education’ on the topic “Improving Students' Relationships with Teachers to Provide Essential Supports for Learning”, write thus: Picture a student who feels a strong personal connection to her teacher, talks with her teacher frequently, and receives more constructive guidance and praise rather than just criticism from her teacher. The student is likely to trust her teacher more, show more engagement in learning, behave better in class and achieve at higher levels academically. I resonate with this.

I blossomed in classes of teachers who had interest in me, helped me improve my work and had genuine praise for me. As a kid I was bad at art but became better as I grew up. I remember in the third or fourth grade, we had an art competition  at our school, conducted by a renowned company selling art supplies. I coloured really badly, so much so, that the supervisor sent by the company, pointing to me, remarked to a fellow supervisor as to how could I even be given entry to the competition. I looked up horrified and the other supervisor quickly shushed him. My self esteem took a hit. And any guesses for who got the first prize? My paternal cousin who lived with me. I did not know whether to rejoice for her or whether to brood over what the supervisor said about me. But in secondary school, I had a very good Art teacher. He showed me how to draw and colour and how to mix shades. And under his guidance, I became better. I remember this one occasion, he showed my painting to the entire class as a good example! I was so proud!! No wonder Art became one of my favourite subjects!

I remember another instance where we had a trainee teacher come to our class for practice-teaching. I would have been in the Fifth or Sixth grade. My English teacher told us to be well behaved with the new teacher and she left to wait in the teacher's staff room. The new teacher started teaching. For many questions, I would raise my hand and give the correct answer. In the end, the trainee teacher asked me if this topic had been taught before as I was giving all correct answers. I replied shyly that topic had not been taught. Then when the trainee teacher left and my English teacher returned, I told my English teacher the conversation the trainee teacher had with me and she gave me a big smile and a hug and said that she was proud of me!! I was thrilled to bits!! When I was in the ninth Grade (in 1984), the Bhopal gas tragedy happened. I read about it in the newspaper and wrote an article about it. My English teacher liked it so much that she asked me to put it on the school notice board that was at the entrance of the school, where important information was displayed.  I was so proud to see my work displayed for all to see!!! English joined the list of my favourite subjects!

I also remember my Biology teacher who treated me as if I was a very smart student. Of course I loved her and loved Biology and got good grades in the subject. We had to maintain a journal and one side of it was for drawing. I worked hard on my drawings and sure enough, the teacher would ask other students who did not get it right to look at my work. I am sure I loved Biology and worked hard at it because of the teacher's positive behaviour towards me.

Then there was this Marathi teacher. We had to learn Marathi in Grade Five. I did not understand a single word initially, but the teacher was patient and I became better. At the end-of-semester exam, I got the highest marks in the subject. I remember a Gujarati speaking student's mother came in to meet the Marathi teacher to say that her daughter found Marathi extremely difficult. It was introduced suddenly in Grade Five, Marathi was not spoken in their house and in Mumbai, Marathi was not even spoken on the streets, as it was usually Hindi that was spoken. The Marathi teacher called me and told the mother 'She is a South-Indian and she has scored the highest in the class. So your daughter needs to work harder'. At that time, I was floating on cloud nine and Marathi became another one of my favourite subjects. But the teacher in me now knows that the Marathi teacher could have shared with the mother some strategies on how to make learning a new language easier and could have refrained from making comparisons.

So these kind teachers who took interest in my learning, helped me improve and praised me, kept me going...which brings me to what I have said earlier...students like a subject if they like a teacher. We should be very careful not to hurt the self esteem of students by our hurtful comments. That does not mean we do not point out areas to improve, but that can be done kindly, after also pointing out some strengths so that our comments are balanced.

Image Credit: Firefly AI Image Generator

Excerpts: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343655607_MATHEMATICS_PHOBIA_CAUSES_SYMPTOMS_AND_

WAYS_TO_OVERCOME#:~:text=The%20study%20has%20revealed%20that,and%20the%20nature%20of%20mathematics.


https://www.apa.org/education-career/k12/relationships


#relationships,#new-teachers,#behaviour,#school,#learning,#teacher-student-relationships,#praise#teaching,#students,

#learning support,#motivation,#trauma,#consent,#punishment, #abuse, #math-phobia





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